BREMERTON — Bremerton might just be the only place where one can order a slug as an edible treat and not end up eating a small mollusk.
“We’ve got slugs here, folks,” Al Hedstrom bellows to passers-by on Bremerton’s Louis Mentor Boardwalk on Saturday during one of the few brief pauses in slug sales. He’s hawking the Bremerton Central Lions Club’s internationally famous and uniquely named pastries at the annual Blackberry Festival.
“They’re moving slowly,” he adds, joking.
In reality, business is anything but slow. Lions Club member Mike Peterson estimates that the club will sell about 1,500 of the treats per shift for three shifts a day over the course of the three-day festival.
For those who haven’t indulged, the slug is on the same sugary branch of the baked goods family tree as the Long John. Like its popular relative, it comes in a doughnut bar shape but is pumped with blackberry filling and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Why the name? It’s unique and catches the eye.
“We call it a slug for fun,” Peterson said with a smile.
According to members of the Bremerton Central Lions Club, the festival is the only place in the world where one can get the pastry, which has become famous outside the Kitsap Peninsula.
“We have people from London or Victoria that come here just for these slugs, so they tell us,” Peterson said.
He estimates that the club has sold the treats for 25 years. When the Lions Club was invited to organize the festival years ago, members came up with the treats as a way to connect with the community. The slugs stuck.
“What we do is sell slugs and have fun,” Peterson said before getting back to work pumping the blackberry filling into the slugs.
Slugs will be available at the Lions Club tent on the Louis Mentor Boardwalk throughout the Blackberry Festival, which runs through Monday.
For those who haven’t indulged, the slug is on the same sugary branch of the baked goods family tree as the Long John. Like its popular relative, it comes in a doughnut bar shape but is pumped with blackberry filling and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Why the name? It’s unique and catches the eye.
“We call it a slug for fun,” Peterson said with a smile.
According to members of the Bremerton Central Lions Club, the festival is the only place in the world where one can get the pastry, which has become famous outside the Kitsap Peninsula.
“We have people from London or Victoria that come here just for these slugs, so they tell us,” Peterson said.
He estimates that the club has sold the treats for 25 years. When the Lions Club was invited to organize the festival years ago, members came up with the treats as a way to connect with the community. The slugs stuck.
“What we do is sell slugs and have fun,” Peterson said before getting back to work pumping the blackberry filling into the slugs.
Slugs will be available at the Lions Club tent on the Louis Mentor Boardwalk throughout the Blackberry Festival, which runs through Monday.
[Source:-Kitsap Sun]
